User Experience of Video-on-Demand Applications for smart TVs: A Case Study

Abstract

The convergence of internet and TV and its consequences on TV producers as well as TV users has been a highly discussed topic over the past few years. With the rapid growth of high-speed broadband connections and the development of high-performance TVs, the foundation for the creation and proliferation of smarter TVs enabling the user with a more personalized viewing experience was laid. As a consequence, new business opportunities have opened up and new players have entered the market. Facing a rapidly changing environment with hardly any standards established yet, the consideration of customer satisfaction and user experience plays a major role. Especially in the entertainment industry, user experience is of high relevance and user-centered design an important precondition for service adoption. Therefore, the case study below investigated success factors and barriers which influence usage of a video-on-demand application for smart TVs. Based on a case study of a European video-on-demand service different usability evaluation methods had been applied and combined in order to evaluate and enhance platform performance.

Conceptualization and Survey Instrument Development for Over-the-Top Platforms’ Usability

“…In the literature, there are several studies on the usability of OTT platforms and TV interfaces: YouTube [14,15], Netflix [15][16][17], Apple TV [30], interactive digital TV (e.g., [23,25,[34][35][36]130]), social TV [21], set-top box (e.g., [32,33]), and smart TV (e.g., [22,24,[26][27][28][29]31]). These studies used various usability evaluation methods (surveys, usability tests, eye tracking, think-aloud method, etc.).…”

“…Lim et al [24] assessed the usability of smart TV interfaces and remotes with diverse age groups. The research by Miesler et al [26] and Lee and Shin [44] examined user experience and interface comparisons of smart TVs, respectively. Dou et al [28] and Ouyang and Zhou [27] both focused on usability problems faced by older people in China when using smart TVs.…”

“…In the studies that conducted user tests for TV and similar systems [18,20,24,[26][27][28]31,33], specific usability problems related to the tested system were identified. However, these studies did not propose any general principles for the design of TV systems.…”

“…In the literature, there is a limited number of studies investigating the usability of video streaming and OTT platforms (e.g., [12][13][14][15][16][17]). On the other hand, there is a more significant number of studies in the literature concerning the evaluation of the usability of TV and similar systems (e.g., [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]). Most existing studies have examined the usability of OTT platforms, video-on-demand (VOD) systems, TV, and similar systems through user testing, field research, and heuristic evaluation.…”